Primarily Found On:

Protection

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website – either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

Help (Fake The Aroma), 187 – OST, Viva – Electro-Techno Hits Volume 2, Dream Injection 6: Audio Sculptures (Portishead Experience), MTV: Extreme (UNKLE Situation), DJ-Kicks: Daddy G, The Beautiful Game (Sampler) (The Napoli Trip)

26th September 1994

05:16

Fake The Aroma – This is an alternative version of Karmacoma that was recorded specfically for inclusion on “Help”, a special compilation charity album to raise money for the children affected by the war in the former Yugoslavia. Other artists also involved included Radiohead, Portishead and the Manic Street Preachers. For Fake the Aroma, Massive Attack enlisted the help of the famous ambient music producer Brian Eno to help with adding extra production to the track. Brian Eno had previously remixed the Protection single earlier that same year. The song was recorded with new Daddy G vocals replacing Tricky’s own vocals in the original Karmacoma, and was done so all in one day on the 4th September 1995 at the Townhouse Studios in London, UK.

Portishead Experience – Perhaps and historic remix for the simple fact that this is the only coming together of Massive Attack and Portishead (two bands so synomously linked together in the Bristol music culture) to collaborate together even if it only is a remix (not to mention a very good remix). Included on all single releases. This remix was performed live, on only two occasions at the Tsumani Benefit shows held in Bristol in 1995, where Portishead played live on stage alongside Massive Attack. This remix also contains a sample of “En Melody” by Serge Gainsbourg.

The Napoli Trip – Another pretty unique remix coming from a dub troupe called Almamegretta from Naples, Italy, which probably not coincidentally is where 3D’s family on his father’s side hails from and which he visits frequently. This remix features entirely new re-recorded vocals where Rino from Almamegretta completely replaces Tricky’s original vocals with his own vocals sung in Napoletano. 3D’s vocals parts are largely the same as the original version expect for one verse which like Rino, he also sings in Napoletano. This version of Karmacoma would also be performed on some select Italian dates in Naples and Milan on Massive Attack’s 1995 tour where Rino would join 3D on stage. Included on all single releases as well as on Daddy G’s DJ Kicks.

The Napoli Trip (Instrumental) – Exactly like the original Napoli Trip sans vocals from 3D and Rino. Included only on the 12” promo vinyl release.

U.N.K.L.E Situation – The first collaboration between Massive Attack and fellow trip-hop band U.N.K.L.E. This remix would end up being mostly DJ Shadow’s (who was apart of U.N.K.L.E at the time) work with minimal input from James Lavelle, who looked up to 3D as an idol and would later becme one of his best friends in the music industry. Included on all single releases. This remix also contains a sample of “Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya” by Doctor John.

U.N.K.L.E Situation (Instrumental) – An instrumental mix of the original U.N.K.L.E remix exactly the same as the original remix sans vocals. Included only on a rare release from James Lavelle’s record label Mo’Wax called Headz “2A”. This release also featured exclusive artwork on the front cover from 3D.

Bumber Ball Dub – Another remix provided by the Mad Professor. Included on all single releases and on No Protection.

Ventom Dub Special – An alternative version of the Bumper Ball Dub remix from Mad Professor. Included on all single releases but not on No Protection.

Radio Edit – A truncated version of the song for radio playback. Trims off much of the beginning and end of the song. Included only on promo releases.

Written by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall, Adrian Thaws, Tim Norfolk and Bob Locke

Produced by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Nellee Hooper

See Protection info section for further credit details by clicking here.

For the Collected version of the song, additional credits are:

Remastered by Mike Marsh at the Exchange and Tim Young at Metropolis Mastering.

N/A

The one and only cover of Karmacoma is by none another than Tricky, who not long after he went solo from Massive Attack re-recorded Karmacoma under a brand new name of Overcome and got his new muse Martina Topley-Bird to do the vocals on it. Overcome appears on Tricky’s 1995 release Maxinquaye.

Robert Del Naja and Adrian Thaws

3D claims that himself and Tricky both wrote the majority of the lyrics to Karmacoma and Eurochild while both high on drugs backstage at a music festival somewhere in England. To help provide the music to hand the lyrics upon, Massive Attack enlisted the help of fellow Bristolians The Insects, whom Massive Attack had befriended while working on Blue Lines at the Coach House Studio in Bristol, UK.

Tricky has made the conscientious accusation in the past that Karmacoma is mostly his own work, with Massive Attack themselves own contribution being minimal. This explains Tricky’s eagerness to cover the song in his own image as Overcome on his debut album. It is also undoubtfully one of the issues that would result in Tricky severing all ties with Massive Attack and going it alone on his solo music career.

The middle eastern vide heard in Karmacoma would be the first but not only time Massive Attack would incorporate such music into their songs. Other songs which could also be deemed to have such a vibe would be Inertia Creeps, Special Cases, Butterfly Caught and Antistar.

Karmacoma has become a signture tune almost, of Massive Attack’s live set with habitual appearances ever since the 1995 tour. The only period it failed to appear live was on two occasions. The first being for the first two months or so at the beginning of the 2003 tour. This absense was due to the graphics to accompany Karmacoma on the large L.E.D screen (a hallmark of the 2003 tour) were not ready in time at the start of the tour. The second time was for a brief period of time during the North American leg of 2006 tour when Daddy G was not present owing to paternity leave. On the 2008 tour, Karmacoma did not make an appearance until the fourth show of the tour, at the 2nd Meltdown performance in London, UK where it was the final song of the setlist (uncharestically going by prior tours). It would remain as part of the 2008 setlist for the majority of the remainding dates with its placement varing wildly from show to show between either the last song played or around the midway point (as where it usually appears on prior tours setlists).

The live version of Karmacoma is peculiar in that it mixes in elements from the alternative Karmacoma mix of Fake The Aroma, such as the added guitar lines in the chorus and 3D’s whispered last words of “fake the aroma” at the songs end.

3D on the meaning behind the lyrics of Karmacoma – “It’s a piss-take between me and Tricky – about me having Italian blood and Tricky having West Indian blood. It’s not about anything in particular… Er, it’s got a lot to do with apathy in relationships and general life. ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’, that sort of thing. A bit of sex, quirky laziness: I dunno, try and explain your own raps and you end up using words you were trying to avoid in the first place” [DJ Magazine - September 1994]

Tricky on how Karmacoma was one of the reasons for the break-up with Massive Attack – “I’ve got animosity towards them for saying they co-wrote Karmacoma when I did all the music and most of the words, and they’ve got animosity towards me for doing my own thing. It’s something you can’t put your finger on” [NME Magazine - January 1995]

Primarily Found On:

Protection

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website – either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

Protection (Single Release), Collected, Singles 90/98, Everything But The Girl – Like The Deserts Miss The Rain, Now That’s What I Call Music 30, Ambient Moods, Ocean Of Sound 2: Crooning On Venus (The Eno Mix), Special Brew (Underdog’s Angel Dust Mix), The Best Of Brit Pop, The Best… Album In The World…Ever!

26th September 1994

07:51

The Eno Mix – A remix provided by the famed ambient electronic composer Brian Eno, making the regular version of Protection into an even more relaxing and soothing tune. Massive Attack would go on to collaborate with Brian Eno again on an alternative re-recorded version of Karmacoma called Fake The Aroma. Included on all singles releases.

The Eno Instrumental – Exactly like the original Eno Mix sans vocals from Tracey Thorn. Included only on the 12” promo vinyl release.

Radiation For The Nation – Another remix provided by the Mad Professor. Included on all single releases and on No Protection. As a sidenote, this particular remix of Protection was mentioned by name in the 2000 film High Fidelity. In the film, John Cusack’s character Rob puts Radiation Ruling the Nation on his list of ‘Top 5 Track Ones Side Ones’, to which Jack Black’s character Barry responds [Quote]“A song with new classic status snuck into a list of old safe ones – very pussy!”. The remix itself however does not appear anywhere on the soundtrack to the film.

Underdog’s Angel Dust Mix – Following on from his recent remix work of Sly, the Underdog (AKA DJ and producer Tim Simenon) would also contribute his talents to this remix of Protection. His next and final remix for Massive Attack would be for Risingson. Included on all singles releases.

Angel Dust Instrumental – Exactly like the original Underdog’s Angel Dust Mix sans vocals from Tracey Thorn. Included only on the 12” promo vinyl release.

J Sw!ft Mix – Veteran rap DJ and producer J Sw!ft helped produced this remix of Protection. Sometimes it is wrongly labeled as The Pharcyde Mix, with The Pharcyde being a rap outfit from the West Coast of America. This confusion is beacuse J Sw!ft is a regular producer for The Pharcyde. Included on all singles releases.

Magnetic Shield Dub – This is an additonal remix done by the Mad Professor which only appears on one source: a free cassette tape that was given out with copies of the April Edition of Select Magazine in the UK.

Flood 2k – This remix was not released until nearly six years after the original single release when it was made availible on a compilation entitled Manchester United: Beyond The Promised Land. The remix was done by Flood, the highly regarded and profilic producer of such bands as U2 and Depeche Mode. Flood himself remarked on how he went about remixing Protection – [Quote]“I thought that the basic arrangement was so strong that I kept to that, and fiddled around with the bottom end of things. I had quite a bizarre bass sequence which I thought would pretty much plough through everything. Then I tried to just get a hint of their chords, because they are quite important to the melody – giving things a bit more of an edge without giving the full game away for what is effectively a seven-inch single. I suppose you could call the result a cross between a club record and something you’d listen to at home”.

7″ Edit – This is a heavily truncated version (at 4:53) of Protection produced to be played by radio DJ’s. Included on the jukebox 7″ vinyl promo and on one of the CD promos for Protection.

Edit – Much like the 7″ Edit above this Edit was produced for the same reasons and reduces the length of Protection done to 03:55. Included only on the USA CD promo for Protection.

Written by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Tracey Thorn

Produced by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Nellee Hooper

See Protection info section for further credit details by clicking here.

For the Collected version of the song, additional credits are:

Remastered by Mike Marsh at the Exchange and Tim Young at Metropolis Mastering.

Protection uses a sample from James Brown’s song “The Payback” which is taken from his 1972 album of the same name The Payback. It is not credited officially be Massive Attack.

So far, Protection has recieved two cover versions. One is by a Californian rock band known as Dart. The other is by Canadian singer-songwriter Emm Gryner.

Tracey Thorn

Afer the fallout of losing their chantessue from Blue Lines, Shara Nelson, Massive Attack were forced to be on the lookout for potential replacements for the sophomore album. Several singers were contacted including soul singer Aaron Neville, punk singer Siouxsie Sioux and Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O’Connor (who later on would appear on 100th Window). They even went so far as to advertise in the NME magazine with the ad description reading – [Quote]“Female vocalist wanted for internationally acclaimed pop band. Influences include Aretha Franklin and Tracey Chapman”. In the end it was Tracey Thorn who reponded to them, basing her reasons both on her admiration for Blue Lines and also she had desired to collaborate with a electronic/dance act for quite some time. From there Massive Attack sent her the backing track for what would become Protection (Better Things was produced later on) where Tracey Thorn added to her vocals, together with a melody she had written which instantly arrested Massive Attack’s attention and make them persue the song further until it’s ultimate concluson.

N/A

Much like its sister track Better Things, Protection has very rarely been played live due to the fact that Tracey Thorn has practically never toured with Massive Attack. There were apparently a handful of dates played during the 1995 tour in England where Tracey Thorn was present and played both Better Things and Protection but this has never happened since. The only confirmed live appearance of Better Things was on Top Of The Pops on the BBC which was broadcast sometime in January 1995.

While it is true that Protection has been very rarely played live, for every date on the 1995/1996 tour, and instrumental version of Protection was played at the beginning of every show. This was only ever about two minutes in length and segued into a live performance of Safe From Harm, acting mostly as a prelude to the show.

Tracey Thorn on how Protection was written – “They sent me five almost completed backing backing tracks, one of which would later become Protection, which were mostly stuff generated from loops and samples. It was different from sitting down with an accoutic guitar, but after a while, it was quite a liberating experience musically” [The Face Magazine - September 1994]

Daddy G on why Tracey Torn was so suited to singing Protection – “ When Tracey Thorn writes about love, it’s always so personal and it’s about love in a conventional sense. We felt that would fit with the track [Protection] we were doing because a lot of the stuff is sparse and there’s quite a lot of room to manoeuvre” [Wasted Magazine - December 1994]

Primarily Found On:

Protection

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website – either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

Spirits Of Nature, Smoking Beats (Cool Monsoon), Harmonia, The Chillout Session 2, Kontor Sunset Chill Vol. 4, Music For Cocktails Part 2, Pure Moods Celestial Celebration

26th September 1994

04:59

Promo Version – This is a slightly alternative version of Weather Storm that only appears on a promo sampler that was issued to promote the album Protection. At 03:04 minutes into the duration of the song on the sampler an extra 10 seconds of additional piano music is heard that is not present on the regular album version. The sampler CD does not mention the fact that this is an alternative version of Weather Storm.

Cool Monsoon – This is another one of the Mad Professor’s dub reconstructions of the songs off Protection. Included only on No Protection.

Written by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall, Nelle Hooper, Craig Armstrong, Cedric Napoleon, Curtis Harmon and James Lloyd

Produced by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Nellee Hooper

Piano by Craig Armstrong

See Protection info section for further credit details by clicking here.

Weather Storm uses a sample from the song It’s Time For Love by Pieces Of a Dream. It appears primarily on their 1983 release Imagine This. It is credited officially by Massive Attack.

The piano arranger and composer of Weather Storm, Craig Armstrong would go on to make not one but two different versions of Weather Storm. In the first version released in 1997 under the same name of Weather Storm on Armstrong’s album The Space Between Us, Armstrong emphasized the orchestral elements in the original song further while in the second version released in 2004 again with the same name of Weather Storm on Armstrong’s Piano Works album, he stripped away the majority of the song to just it just a lone piano track.

Instrumental

N/A

Whilst not much information exists exactly on the origins of Weather Storm (or its sister songs, Sly and Heat Miser), it was the direct result of Massive Attack’s partnership with with the up and coming film composer Craig Armstrong and their desire to produce a song with a very filmic theme or quality to it. This urge to produce film score would naturally lead to Massive Attack’s involvement with the Danny The Dog and Bullet Boy soundtracks ten years later.

N/A

Weather Storm has never once been played live.

Craig Armstrong on why working with Massive Attack on Weather Storm was a logical choice – “I’ve always loved Jazz, I’ve always loved black music, and I’ve always loved a lot of Classical music. So I guess what I do now is just subconsciously all these…you know, I suppose in a way Weather Storm, that was a very typical thing for me to get involved in because they [Massive Attack] wanted something really classical, I loved their tracks, so that was a happy marriage” [IGN.com - November 2004]

Primarily Found On:

Protection

Also Found On:

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website – either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

Mission Impossible – OST

First Released On:

26th September 1994

Duration:

05:20

Variations/Remixes:

I Spy – This is another one of the Mad Professor’s reconstructions of the songs off Protection. Included only on No Protection.

Credits:

Written by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall, Nellee Hooper and Horace Andy

Produced by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Nellee Hooper

See Protection info section for further credit details by clicking here.

Sampled:

Spying Glass is a cover of one of Horace Andy’s classic songs from the 1970’s which was similarly titled Spying Glass. It is now available on Dance Hall Style which was reissued in 2007.

Covered:

N/A

Vocalist(s):

Horace Andy

History:

Spying Glass began as simply a suggestion from Horace Andy to cover one of his own songs from the past like what had been done with One Love on Blue Lines. Once this had been suggested it was Daddy G’s impetus that decided to pick Horace Andy’s old Spying Glass song for a remake.

Additional Info:

There is an interesting similarity between the keyboard/synthesizer loop heard in the last half minute of Spying Glass and the secret (Untitled) bassline track which is heard at the end of Antistar on 100th Window. Rather Massive Attack based the (Untitled) bassline on the end of Spying Glass has not been revealed and is debatable.

Live Appearances:

Spying Glass was played extensively throughout all the tours from 1995-1999, hardly ever been left off the setlist. This changed however on the 2003 tour when Spying Glass was dropped completely for that tour making Karmacoma the only song from Protection to be played on that tour. It would make its comeback though for the 2004 tour where it was played once again on all dates. For the 2006 tour it was once again dropped.

Quotes:

N/A

Primarily Found On:

Protection

Also Found On:

N/A

First Released On:

26th September 1994

Duration:

04:18

Variations/Remixes:

Clean Edit – This version is identical to the original album in every way except that in the lyric “All that’s bullshit babe” the word “Bullshit” is muted for apparent censorship issues due to foul language. This is the only Massive Attack song which has ever been edited in such a manner.

Moving Dub – This is another one of the Mad Professor’s reconstructions of the songs off Protection. Included only on No Protection.

Credits:

Written by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall, Tracey Thorn, Ben Watt and James Brown

Produced by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Nellee Hooper

Guitar by Chester Kamen

See Protection info section for further credit details by clicking here.

Sampled:

Better Things uses a sample from James Brown’s song Never Can Say Goodbye which is taken from his 1972 album There It Is. It is credited officially be Massive Attack.

Covered:

N/A

Vocalist(s):

Tracey Thorn

Lyrics:

History:

Much in the same way that Sinead O’Connor would gravitate towards the raw hard-hitting bassline in A Prayer For England, Tracey Thorn also appreciated the hard and raw bassline Massive Attack sent her as a sample to write her own lyrics and melody over, surprising Massive Attack initially over why she would choose such a bass heavy song which could overpower the rest of the song, but in the end turned it into something quite special. The bassline for the song was almost certainly a product of Daddy G’s love of deep rumbling dub basslines.

Additional Info:

Unlike the other two Tracey Thorn sung songs, Protection and The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game, Better Things includes the other half of Tracey Thorn’s band Everything But The Girl’s Ben Watt on song-writing and guitar duties.

Better Things was at one point by looking at early promo shots of Collected, going to be included on Collected in the place of Sly. This was however changed before the release date.

Live Appearances:

Much like its sister track Protection, Better Things has very rarely been played live due to the fact that Tracey Thorn has practically never toured with Massive Attack. There were apparently a handful of dates played during the 1995 tour in England where Tracey Thorn was present and played both Better Things and Protection but this has never happened since. The only confirmed live appearance of Better Things was on the Later With Jools Holland show on the BBC which was broadcast on the 5th May 1995.

Quotes:

3D on matching Tracey Thorn’s voice with the music of Better Things – “We sent Tracey a few tracks so she could pick which ones to sing on. One of her choices was Better Things – the last track we expected her to choose. It’s so fucking raw, like a sound-system thing and a simple beat” [DJ Magazine - September 1994]

Mushroom on Better Things – “A raw fucking bassline and Tracey Torn’s lonely voice over it” [Q Magazine - January 1995]

Primarily Found On:

Protection

Also Found On:

The Beautiful Game (Eurochild Ninety 6)

First Released On:

26th September 1994

Duration:

05:06

Variations/Remixes:

Euro Zero Zero – This is an alternative version of Eurochild that was recorded specfically for inclusion on “The Beautiful Game”, a special compilation album to promote the FIFA Euro 1996 Cup. Original unheard demos for the track apparently included swirling chants and crowd noises, recorded by 3D on a trip to his father’s hometown of Naples San Paolo stadium. They were dropped from the final version because they were overwhelming the rest of the song. On “The Beautiful Game” release it was called Eurochild Ninety 6, but by the time the track reappeared on the Teardrop single release as a b-side it had undergone a name change to Euro Zero Zero. Despite the name change there is no difference between the songs. The reason for re-recording Eurochild as Euro Zero Zero was a product of Massive Attack’s live shows throughout 1995 which had featured beefed up guitar output from Angelo Bruschini, which had influenced the way Massive Attack were playing Eurochild live turning it into a more moody experience with added vocals from Horace Andy. Both of these new elements would make their way onto the newly recorded version of Eurochild. For the first time, Massive’s augmented live act had dictated the way their records would sound.

Credits:

Written by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall, Adrian Thaws, Tim Norfolk and Bob Locke

Produced by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Nellee Hooper

See Protection info section for further credit details by clicking here.

Sampled:

N/A

Covered:

Eurochild is essentially a cover version (with added lyrics by 3D and Tricky) of a song called “Cheetah” originally performed by fellow Bristol band The Insects. The Insects would also contribute on the production side of things for Eurochild.

Vocalist(s):

Robert Del Naja and Adrian Thaws

Lyrics:

History:

3D claims that himself and Tricky both wrote the majority of the lyrics to Eurochild and Karmacoma while both high on drugs backstage at a music festival somewhere in England. Tricky also took some direct inspiration and borrowed (?) some of the lyrics from a song called “Blank Expression” by The Specials, who Tricky has publicaly stated many times as being of one his most favourite and most influetal bands. The borrowed lyrics in question are “I walk in a bar and immediately I sense danger You look at me girl as if I was some kind of a, a total stranger”. To help provide the music to hang the lyrics upon, Massive Attack enlisted the help of fellow Bristolians The Insects (who also did’nt mind working on a cover version of their own song), whom Massive Attack had befriended while working on Blue Lines at the Coach House Studio in Bristol, UK.

Additional Info:

The figure on the front cover of the album Protection is named after the song Eurochild (or maybe the other way around. The Eurochild figure is meant to represent Europe (or the E.U.) and its different disparate elements attempting to come together to form a unified whole amid all the choas and confusion.

Some of 3D’s lyrics that appear in Eurochild were first heard on Just A Matter Of Time. Examples of these lyrics include “Glow from the tv set was blue, just like neon activated the remote, and then i put the BBC on”. As this song is very hard to find especially in the days before the adoption of the internet, 3D’s recycling of the lyrics for Eurochild is not of much concern.

Live Appearances:

Eurochild was played compulsively throughout each tour from 1995 – 1999, even though it went through a few variations over those few years. For the majority of the 1995 tour it was played similar to the way the album version is, with the only difference being Daddy G filling in for Tricky absense on vocals. Towards the end of the 1995 tour and into the entirety of the 1996 and 1997 tours the version played was the newly recorded Euro Zero Zero, which was a better fit for the new live orientated band approach Massive Attack were taking to their live shows at this time. Finally on the 1998/1999 tour, at the end of the live version of Eurochild, Angelo Bruschini, Massive Attack’s guitarist would play a rocking guitar solo that lasted about a minute that is the exact same as the one found on the midpoint of Dissolved Girl, perhaps making up for the fact that Dissolved Girl was excluded from the setlist for the entire 1998/1999 tour.

Since the 1999 tour, however Eurochild has failed to make the live setlist, making it’s last ever live appearance at the Melkweg, Amsterdam, Holland on the 28th November 1999.

Quotes:

3D on the meaning behind the lyrics of Karmacoma – “We did a wicked version of Eurochild with fucking excellent grunge guitar” [Q Magazine - January 1999]

3D on the Eurochild figure and how it relates to the song Eurochild – “But he’s a whimsical character,” he smiles, “You can take him seriously or just look at him as a cartoon character, much like the track – just take it or leave it” [DJ Magazine - September 1994]

Primarily Found On:

Protection

Also Found On:

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website – either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

Sly (Single Release), Now That’s What I Call Music 29, In Defense Of Animals Volume 2 (Cosmic Dub)

First Released On:

26th September 1994

Duration:

05:24

Variations/Remixes:

7 Stones Mix – Respected dance DJ Tim Simenon was the main man behind this remix with the unusual name of 7 Stones. This would be his only remix for Massive Attack. Included on all single releases.

7 Stones Mix Instrumental – An instrumental mix of the original 7 Stones mix exactly the same as the original remix sans vocals. Included only on the promo 12″ vinyl release.

Underdog Mix – Underdog AKA Trevor Jackson offers his own interpertation of Sly here. This would be his first of three remixes for Massive Attack, the other two being Protection and Risingson. Included on all single releases.

Underdog Double Bass & Accapella – Removes the beat from the orginial whilst making the remix more minimalistic. Included on all single releases, but not the Singles 90/98 boxset.

Dogapella – A minor variation on the Underdog Double Bass & Accapella. Included only on the promo 12″ vinyl release.

Cosmic Dub – This is the first ever Mad Professor remix of a Massive Attack song released. Included on all single releases and on No Protection.

Eternal Feedback Dub – Another remix by the Mad Professor. Included on all single releases but not on No Protection.

Credits:

Written by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall, Nelle Hooper, Nicolette Suwoton and Vivien Goldman

Produced by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Nellee Hooper

Strings Arranged and Conducted by Craig Armstrong

See Protection info section for further credit details by clicking here.

For the Collected version of the song, additional credits are:

Remastered by Mike Marsh at the Exchange and Tim Young at Metropolis Mastering.

Sampled:

Sly uses a sample from the song Africa Talks to You by Sly & The Family Stone. It appears primarily on their 1971 release There’s a Riot Goin’ On . It is not credited officially by Massive Attack.

Covered:

N/A

Vocalist(s):

Nicolette

Lyrics:

History:

Sly was the combination of Craig Armstrong’s strings combined with Nicolette’s unique sensual vocals. Massive Attack had choosen Nicolette to appear on the album Protection after hearing her first album ‘Now is Early’ and being suitablely impressed by it.

Additional Info:

Some music press magazines reported just before the single release of Sly in the UK, that a ‘Future Sound Of London’ remix would also be apart of the single package. Whether this was simply inaccurate reporting or if the remix was pulled at the last minute remains unknown as the remix did not appear on the single release. It has never been heard and no confirmation of it’s existence exists otherwise.

One of the song-writers of this song is Vivien Goldman, whose credentials boast of being both a music journalist and musician. Even with her varied career in the arts, Sly is her only song she worked on with Massive Attack.

On Collected, the song’s duration is 04:56, as the sweeping orchestral strings at the songs end has been omitted.

Sly has never once been played live, not even in any live TV appearances. Obviously, Nicolette never toured with Massive Attack and the only other Nicolette sung song, Three has likewise never been performed live.

Quotes:

3D on working with Craig Armstrong during the making of Sly – “To sort him out we gave him a lot of influential tracks, a lot of 50s big band music like Les Baxter and stuff and really filled him in on what we wanted. And given like four or five reference tracks and the groove and the song, he could have gone anywhere with that, but he picked up on the vibe and came back with the mood we’re all into” [The Wire - September 1994]

Nicolette on why she choose to work with Massive Attack – “They heard my latest single at the time ‘Wicked Mathematics’ and got in touch with my then manager, asking if I would work with them on some tracks. I was really surprised because musically we came from two different worlds, but I was very happy to do it because I respected them a lot as musicians, and also because I knew it would be a challenge for me to work on something so different than what I was used to. So they brought me over to bristol to meet the band, we hit it off, and that was that” [MassiveAttackArea.com - February 2005]

Primarily Found On:

Protection

Also Found On:

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website – either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

Escapes II, Pure Lounge 2

First Released On:

26th September 1994

Duration:

03:39

Variations/Remixes:

Backward Sucking – The final track from the Mad Professor remix album No Protection. Available only on this release.

Suck Me Up Dub – This remix also from the the Mad Professor was released two years after the No Protection remix album on a electronic music compilation called “Foundations: Coming Up From The Streets”. Whilst similar in style with the Backward Sucking remix of the song, this version contains some notable differences. The first being the use of Tracey Thorn’s distorted echoey vocals which do not appear to be to taken from any of the three songs Tracey Thorn released in conjunction with Massive Attack. The other difference is that this remix contains a sample coincidentally or not, from the Isaac Hayes song “Ike’s Mood”, which was also used by Massive Attack themselves at the very end of One Love.

Heatmiser 2 – This version is soleley produced by Craig Armstrong, even though it still contains writing credits for Massive Attack. It strips the original song back to a very basic albeit beautiful piano track, which is the theme of the album it appears on: Craig Armstrong’s “Piano Works”, which features piano only instrumentals of earlier Craig Armstrong works.

Credits:

Written by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall, Nelle Hooper and Marius De Vries

Produced by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Nellee Hooper

Piano by Craig Armstrong

Drums by Rob Merril

See Protection info section for further credit details by clicking here.

Sampled:

N/A

Covered:

N/A

Vocalist(s):

Instrumental

Lyrics:

Normally concidered an instrumental song by the vast majority, even though Daddy G’s voice does provide the repeating heavy breathing loop heard throughout the track. It is also interesting to note that 3D provides brand new lyrics to the track perhaps in an effort to ’spice it up’ in all live renditions of the song. The lyric section directly below contains 3D’s live lyrics to the song, even though he has been known to vary the lyrics slighly from night to night.

History:

Whilst not much information exists exactly on the origins of Heat Miser (or its sister songs, Weather Storm and Sly), it was the direct result of Massive Attack’s partnership with with the up and coming film composer Craig Armstrong and their desire to produce a song with a very filmic theme or quality to it. This urge to produce film score would naturally lead to Massive Attack’s involvement with the Danny The Dog and Bullet Boy soundtrack ten years later.

Additional Info:

The heavy breathing heard throughout the song is that of Daddy G.

This is the only Massive Attack song to feature Marius De Vries on writing duties. His main role was that of programmer on the album Protection.

The drummer on Heat Miser, Rob Merril would also likewise never work on another Massive Attack song again, but also strangely enough according to Discogs, would never feature again in any musical capacity again on any recording ever again.

Live Appearances:

Heat Miser was an almost permanent member of the live setlist from the 1995 tour until the end of the Mezzanine tour in 1999. Since then however, it has appeared very rarily on setlists with its only appearance being a handful of dates at the beginning of the European leg of the 2006 tour. This was due to the fact that Horace Andy was unavailable for those dates, which forced Massive Attack to improvise their setlist a little bit more than usual.

As noted above, 3D provides new lyrics to the live version where as the original album version was a simple instrumental. Some of these live lyrics which would have probably been written around 1994/1995, would end up as being apart of the lyrics to Inertia Creeps.

On some occasions during the 1995/1996, Craig Armstrong would accompany Massive Attack live on stage and play the piano part of Heat Miser.

Quotes:

N/A

Primarily Found On:

Protection

Also Found On:

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website – either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

N/A

First Released On:

26th September 1994

Duration:

03:15

Variations/Remixes:

N/A

Credits:

Written by Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger

Produced by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Nellee Hooper

See Protection info section for further credit details by clicking here.

Sampled:

Light My Fire (Live) uses a sample from the song Light My Fire by the Young Holt Trio. It appears primarily on their 2002 Best Of release Best of Young-Holt Unlimited: Ten Best Series. It is credited officially by Massive Attack.

Covered:

Several cover versions of Light My Fire exist but all are based on the original The Doors song and not the Massive Attack recording.

Vocalist(s):

Horace Andy and Grant Marshall

Lyrics:

History:

Light My Fire (Live) was an attempt to replicate Massive Attack’s early roots as being apart of The Wild Bunch soundsystem by producing a dancehall friendly cover version of a classic rock song, namely The Doors iconic Light My Fire. They choose this song to cover because of Horace Andy’s familiarity with it (even if it was the Jose Feliciano version of it he knew and not The Doors original).

Additional Info:

Even though the title of the Massive Attack song Light My Fire (Live) would seem to explicitly state that this song was recorded live (making it the only Massive Attack live song to ever been released officially), this is actually not the case. The audience hubbub in the background is actually a looped recording. The vocals of Horace Andy were actually recorded in the studio. As for Daddy G, his shout-outs may have been recorded and sampled from an old Wild Bunch party, however this is unconfirmed.

Live Appearances:

Light My Fire (Live) was played on the majority of dates on the 1995/1996 tour in a pretty much identical dancehall reggae style as the album version, with Horace Andy on vocals with Daddy G providing the MC toasting. Since 1996, it has not seen the light of day on any live setlists.

Quotes:

Mushroom on Horace Andy’s experience with singing Light My Fire live – “He’d been singing it for years at mic checks, but when we asked him if he’d heard The Doors original, he went, ‘Who are The Doors?’. Apparently the old Jose Feliciano version was a big Jamician hit in the late Sixities and, as far as Horace was concerned, that was the original” [The Face Magazine - September 1994]

3D on why they choose to cover Light My Fire as a live version – “Just to annoy everyone. And that is quite simply it. Horace used to sing it for fun in the studio and we thought, let’s do it and make it sound like a jam with a live sound system. We knew everyone would be disappointed, dismayed and disgusted” [BPM Magazine - March 2003]

Primarily Found On:

Batman Forever – OST

Also Found On:

N/A

First Released On:

6th June 1995

Duration:

04:06

N/A

Credits:

Written by William “Smokey” Robinson Jr.

Produced by Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall

Extra Production by The Insects and Neil Davidge

Guitar by Danny Tomlin

Engineered by Oliver Jones

Mixed by Mark “Spike” Stent

Mix Engineered by Andy Bradfield and Jeremy Wheatley

Sampled:

The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game is a cover version of the original Smokey Robinson version produced in 1967.

Covered:

Several cover versions of The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game exist but all are based on the original Smokey Robinson song and not the Massive Attack recording.

Vocalist(s):

Tracey Thorn

Lyrics:

History:

The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game marks an important moment in Massive Attack’s history. It was he first time that Massive Attack and Neil Davidge would work together on a song. Neil Davidge was originally brought into Massive Attack studios as an engineer, after being introduced to them by Andy Allen (owner of Coach studios in Bristol, UK) but he was soon promoted to co-producer status, as the original producers intended for the song, The Insects, (whom Massive Attack had worked with before on Karmacoma and Eurochild) were forced to back out due to unforseen work commitments, after only a few days of work on the song. Neil Davidge was then drafted from engineer to being a producer to finish the song off in The Insects absense. As he had done a good job, producing the song and 3D saw him as someone he could readily communicate his musical ideas to, he was kept on by the band and became the co-producer of Mezzanine and beyond that an eventual member of the band in all but name.

Additional Info:

Even though The Hunter Gets Captured By the Game was produced especially for the film Batman Forever soundtrack album, it appears nowhere in the actual film itself.

The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game would be the last time Massive Attack would collaborate with either Tracey Thorn or The Insects. Two years later, it was hoped for that Tracey Thorn, might collaborate once again with Massive Attack on the Welcome To Sarajevo soundtrack. She had partly written a song called Blame, for Massive Attack to produce, but Massive Attack were unsatisfied with the song and ended up doing a completely new song called Wire with a new singer, Sara Jay, dropping the Tracey Thorn song completely.

Live Appearances:

The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game has never once been played live.

Quotes:

Neil Davidge on meeting Massive Atack for the first time when recording The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game – The first track was for the Batman Forever album, a track called The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game, featuring Tracy Thorn. The Insects started the track but were unable to finish it due to other commitments. I was introduced to the guys by Andy Allen, owner of the Coach House studios in Bristol [Focusrite - April 2003]